


Lahgorah

by noumenon



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Anachronistic Language, Background Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-03 22:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2890502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noumenon/pseuds/noumenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David Washington is the prince of Valhalla, or he was, until he ran away. The knights were punished for losing their king and were decimated - a tenth of them were banished. Tucker was one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lahgorah

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I did this one for the rvb jamboree like half the stuff I've been uploading recently, but I wasn't happy with how much I was able to get done in time so I'm cutting off the original ending and adding in all the middle ground and world building that I wanted to do.
> 
> EDIT: yeah so I lost inspiration so here's the original version with the ending

Today was bad for a multitude of reasons. First were the typical ones: it’s cloudy and looks depressing as fuck outside, it’s kind of chilly, breakfast was last night’s dinner leftovers of which there was very little. Oh, and the armies of Valhalla were decimated as punishment for the prince going missing under their watch when he was meant to be marrying the princess of the Southern Isles. She was actually the one who demanded the decimation. Bitch.

“It’s fair.” The asshole general justified, “We won’t decimate you by the old laws, killing every tenth soldier. We’ll banish every tenth soldier.” Wow. Fucking everyone wins, don’t they? Assholes.

And that is what happened to Tucker. He was banished along with a bunch of other unlucky assholes who picked the wrong spot to stand in line up this after breakfast. 

Apparently the prince was taken by a dragon or something when he was on his patrol last week. No one who was on patrol with him noticed anything at all though, so it was probably just a stupid rumor. Plus everyone knows dragons went extinct years ago, when the king ascended to the throne and declared them a menace. Tucker’s dad had died fighting the last dragon, a huge teal beast. 

“So! Where should we go?” The voice of Tucker’s annoying trainee pierced the silence as he walked away from his home.

“Nowhere, Palomo. We are not going anywhere. I am going somewhere.” Tucker told him.

“But we were banished! We have to go somewhere.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have to go to the same somewhere.” Tucker started walking faster, but the other knight just jogged to catch back up.

“I don’t know where to go!”

“Neither do I! I’m just fucking going somewhere.” He looked at the woods surrounding the city and tried to guess the best way to go.

“Let’s go that way.” Palomo pointed towards the area of the woods that was more barren, but also void of anything dangerous.

“Yeah, you do that. I’m going that way.” Tucker began walking towards a stone path overrun by ivy. 

“But-“ Palomo stopped following Tucker now. “That’s…”

“Dude, the dragon is dead. There’s nothing over there.” 

“The land is cursed!”

“That’s what parents till their idiot kids to keep them from playing in the woods. It’s perfectly safe.” Tucker kept walking, ignoring Palomo’s calls that it was too dangerous. Maybe it was, but Tucker figured that he could easily change directions tomorrow once Palomo got eaten by a bear or fell off a cliff and he could be sure he wouldn’t have to deal with him. He was pretty sure it was fine, though. Tucker’s mom had told him stories about dragons and their keepers. No dragon would curse the land, no matter how mad they were. They were creatures of life and love. They were just so powerful people were afraid of them.

The rocks that made up the path were placed there hundreds of years ago, back when humans and dragons were partners in the world instead of the way it was now. This led to the last dragon’s lair, which was emptied and plundered when Tucker was a kid. But the lair was probably still nice. Humans built them extravagant lairs in return for the dragon’s protection. Even if there was no money or food left, it would be a great place to live for a while. And, the soot from the dragon’s fire made the earth around their homes so fertile that they were natural gardens of fruit and vegetables and tons of animals around to hunt. His mom called this garden Eden. 

The path was hard to see now from the plant life that was taking over, but he could make it out if he watched it carefully. That turned out to be very good because he was able to see a trip wire running across the path about a mile in to the woods. Tucker jumped over it and backed away, only to walk right into another trap. 

“Shit-” He tried to dodge a trunk that came barreling towards him attached to a rope, but failed. It knocked him over, sending him flying a few feet, just enough that he landed right on top of the trip wire he had missed earlier. This trap went off as well, a tree to the side of the path came down – right onto Tucker’s leg. He screamed in pain and he heard something in his leg crack. 

There was shuffling in the woods, probably from whoever set up the traps. These were set by anyone in the kingdom, right? They would have no reason to rig this path.

“What are you doing here?” A voice called out from in the woods. “Humans aren’t welcome in this place any longer.”

“Fuck you,” Tucker hissed. “I have to go somewhere. I’d leave but,” He tried to sit up and shoved the log off his leg. Even with the weight gone, his leg was in tremendous pain. He was pretty sure it was broken. “I don’t think I can.”

A head popped out from behind the tree for just a few moments. Maybe longer, Tucker couldn’t be sure. He wasn’t actually paying attention to whatever it was that had caused this to happen, he was more concerned with the state of his leg. The skin was marbled black and red, but he wasn’t really bleeding. The skin was just torn up a bit from the rough texture of the bark that scraped him through his pants. Whoever it was must have recognized his outfit though. Tucker was still wearing his uniform.

“Are you a knight? Why are you here?”

“What the fuck is with this twenty questions bullshit?” Tucker complained. “I was banished, alright? The fucking prince went missing and the father of the princess he was supposed to marry made my king decimate our forces.”

“Oh no.” The voice sounded remorseful. “I… I didn’t think that would happen. I didn’t think anything would happen I swear I wouldn’t have left-”

Tucker looked over and the figure was moving out from behind the trees. He had blonde hair and too many freckles and grey eyes and a face that Tucker would recognize anywhere. “My prince! What the hell are you doing out here?”

The prince, David Washington, ignored the question and hurried over to Tucker’s side to help him up. “I’ll take you to Eden. It’s not that far from here.”

“Okay, thanks, but you didn’t answer me.” Tucker held onto Prince Washington tightly. He did not want to fall on his leg, that could only end badly.

“Look I, I just don’t want to get married. The king of the Southern Isles is nice and all, but, his daughter scares me. I knew I would be expected to marry a woman someday and I accepted that even though I—but I just don’t think I can do it. And you’re not bringing me back to my father.”

“Yeah, I am. I don’t want to be banished. If I take you back, I’ll be allowed to stay! My entire life is in Valhalla, Prince Washington. I can’t just stay in the fucking woods.”

“Well you don’t have a choice. You broke your leg-”

“Uh no, you broke my leg.”

“Your leg is broken, and you’re not going anywhere for a while. I’ll make sure you get better, but I’m not going back there. Now stop talking about it before I leave you here for a bear to find.”

“Bears love me. So do twinks. Everyone loves me.” He winked at his prince, who promptly dropped him.

“Ow!” Tucker crumbled to the ground and did his best to avoid landing on his broken leg, but everything else hit the ground so he ended up hurt anyways. Washington held a hand out for him once he gathered himself and managed to sit up on the ground.

“Are you ready to stop being an idiot?”

“Yes, Prince Prissy. I didn’t realize you were a dick with no sense of humor. I thought you’d appreciate the joke since you’re, well, I know why Maine got executed last year.”

Washington retracted his hand and glared. “What do you know?”

“That he was caught macking on you. Cause y’know, you like dudes. Which is cool and all – hey, where are you going?”

The prince had turned and starting walking away. “I’m leaving you here.” 

“Okay okay, I’m sorry!” Tucker tried to stand up to follow and ended up falling again. “Fuck, I’m really sorry, okay? I didn’t mean it like that.”

“So, you didn’t mean it in a rude way when you reminded me that my dad killed the guy I was in love with? Please tell me, how did you mean it?”

“I just meant it like…” Tucker scrambled for words, “I’m down with it? I don’t care what you’re into. I’m into anything so yeah, I get it.”

“If that’s what you meant, then you should have said it. Hey David, I’m made a gay joke because I’m okay with you being gay. That’s how easy it would be.”

“Dude, I cannot call the prince by his first name.”

“That was not the important part of what I was saying.”

Tucker shrugged and held a hand out. “Whatever. Can you please help me up now?”

The prince stared at him for a few moments longer before shaking his head and holding out a hand to pull him up. “Fine. But you’re going to behave yourself in Eden.”

“Okay, okay. Whatever you say, Prince Washington.”

“I’m not the prince anymore.” 

“Alright, I’ll just call you Washington then.”

“What’s wrong with my first name?”

“I told you! I can’t call the prince by his first name. It’s weird.”

“What’s your name?”

“Lavernius Tucker.”

“Then I’ll call you Tucker since you insist on using my last name.”

“You’re so fucking immature.”

“Seriously? You’re calling me immature? You’re the one who made a completely inappropriate joke on ‘bear’ not five minutes ago.”

The two continued walking the entire time they were bickering until they came to a clearing in the woods. Maybe clearing wasn’t the best word. It was a garden, really. A naturally perfect garden enriched by the dragon that once lived here. Eden. Behind a small grove of apple trees was the home of the dragon. It was carved out of a mountain of marble. All one piece and impossibly intricate. Humans had carved out the rooms, and the dragon had carved all the small details with his claws.

Tucker had never been here before. None of the knights had. It was restricted; humans were never allowed to come back by order of the king. 

It was absolutely beautiful.

Washington dragged Tucker inside the building. The door in front was huge, big enough for the last occupant to get inside. All of the rooms were huge, actually. They were all mostly empty, just filled with things that the prince must have brought in over the last few days. 

The room Tucker was brought to had something though – a huge egg. Actually, while the egg was the only thing he found himself able to concentrate on at first, the room was completely furnished. It was like the room got completely overlooked. There were bookshelves and even a bed pushed against the far edge of the room. The walls were plain marble except where the egg was. The dragon must not have spent much time in here except to carve those few words.

“What’s…that?” Tucker asked. Something about the egg made him very uncomfortable.

“I think it’s a dragon egg. It gives off a weird aura. Nothing wants to get near it.”

“Yeah no shit. So why are we in here? I don’t want to be near it.”

“Well, if anyone shows up they’ll probably stay away from this room. It’s safer.”

“No one is coming! Listen, we were told you were taken and assumed dead. No one is looking here.”

“You were told I was taken?”

“Yeah, that’s what the king thinks. We were told to look around the woods and follow any clues, like footsteps, even single tracks, or traps, and when we found nothing the king banished a tenth of us into the words and fuck. The king had us looking for signs that you’d set up camp. He totally planned on someone finding you when he banished us.”

“Yeah, so we’re staying here, where people get repelled. This was the keeper’s room. There’s a bed in here for you rest on for the weeks until your leg is healed, and that chest has some very basic medical supplies. No herbs, they’ve all gone bad. But there’s wraps so I can splint your leg. ”

“You know what, maybe you can just leave me in the woods. I don’t want to stay in here.

Washington rolled his eyes him and took Tucker over to the bed and dropped him onto it as carefully as he could. “Stay there.” He ordered.

Tucker signed and laid back. He glanced over at the egg, it was the same color as the scales that decorated the king’s throne room. It really made him uncomfortable. He tried to look at the wall behind it instead. There was some weird writing carved in, probably from the dragon who lived here. He moved his lips to read the words silently. He started to wonder why the language his mom spoke to him at home was written there when Washington was back to the bed, medical supplies in hand.

“Tucker.” Wash’s voice brought his attention away from the egg in the corner. “This is going to hurt so just, don’t move.”

“Have you ever considered being a doctor? You have great beside manners.” Tucker told him sarcastically. “And I know I’d love to have a cute doctor waiting on me hand and food.” 

“Now it’s definitely going to hurt.” Before Tucker could protest, Wash grabbed his leg and forced the bones back into their right position. Tucker yelped in pain and tried to pull his leg back, but Washington held onto it too tightly and didn’t let go until he had properly wrapped it so the bones wouldn’t move.

“You’re a dick!” Tucker exclaimed when he could finally pull his leg away from Washington.

“I just made it so you’ll be able to walk when it heals.” Washington crossed his arms and gave Tucker a very unimpressed look. 

“And when will that be? I don’t want to spend all my time in bed. Unless, y’know, you wanna get in here with me.” 

“I’ll rebreak your leg, Tucker.”

“I take back what I said before. Your bedside manners suck.”

Wash sighed. “You’ll be able to walk again in month. You broke your leg. That takes a while to heal.”

“We’ve been over this. You broke my leg. With your fucking tree trap. Why did you set those up anyways?”

“I didn’t want anyone following me.”

“And yet you took be home with you.”

“I felt bad, okay? I didn’t expect anyone to get hurt so badly. I thought people would turn away once they saw them.”

“You know, the king’s healer could fix me up instantly with magic. You could probably get me that special treatment if you went home.”

“I’m not going back!” 

“I wasn’t being serious! Sorry, sorry. Note to self: don’t make jokes about Washington going home. He’s a piss baby about it.”

Washington frowned and turned away to walk towards the bookshelf. He grabbed a random one and returned to Tucker to give it to him. “Here’s something to entertain yourself. You can read, right?”

“Yeah I can fucking read. I’m a ward of the king. He may have kept us separate from his real kids, but we got decent enough treatment.”

“You’re a… what happened to your parents?”

“Dad was knight. Dead. Mom… I’m not actually sure. She just didn’t come home one day.” He shrugged, like it was a thought he was trying to keep away from himself. “Since my dad was a knight, that meant I was worth becoming the king’s ward.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d lost anyone I kind of assumed-”

“You assumed my charming personality as the byproduct of a loving family. That woulda been nice. I get he’s your dad and all, but the king is a real dick to his wards. He made sure we knew he didn’t care about us and he only took care of us so we could be useful members of his kingdom.”

“Yeah Dad never was the best father figure. For anyone.” Washington sighed. “Well um, it’s not something either of us have to worry about any more.”

Tucker nodded and started flipping through pages in the book. “Oh cool, this is about the keepers who have been in here.” 

Washington looked over at the page and squinted. “Wait, this isn’t even common. You can read that?”

“Well, sort of.” Tucker shrugged. “My mom spoke this language at home, and would sometimes write in it. She taught me all she knew before…” He trailed off.

“Tucker, this is,” Washington took the book away from him to get a better look. “Tucker, you’re reading Daro. That’s the language of the dragons.”

“Wait what, how the fuck did my mom know that?”

“How should I know!” Wash asked, throwing his hands in the air as he did. “So, can you read the stuff on the walls here?”

“Yeah, sort of. I think that,” He pointed at the runes above the egg, “says ‘affection’ or ‘love’ or something close to that.” He frowned at the word for a few seconds. “Lahgorah.” He read aloud, but he didn’t seem pleased with how it came out. “I can’t say it right. The language is mostly communicated with emotion, and it’s a little magical. That’s what mom said. But it, I dunno, it sounds better when my mom says it to me. When she’d say it I’d feel it.” He looked it for another second before trying it again. “Lahgorah.”

Washington eyed him as he did it. He wasn’t really sure what Tucker was talking about. It sounded fine when he said it. “What else does it say?” He asked, motioning to the other sigils, written smaller than ‘lahgorah’ had been. 

“I think it’s…” Tucker looked critically over the markings. “Apart… Afraid…Loving… Family… Grow.” He said slowly. “I think it just means it’s a dragon egg and the family is about to grow. But only if they’re together so the egg isn’t going to hatch alone cause it’s afraid. It’s like a creepy baby room. Although, it could be,” he stopped and shook his head, not bothering to continue.

“Although what?”

“Nothing, just. My mom used to tell me a story about dragons being born as the outcome of true love. Like, whenever a couple falls in love a dragon is brought into the world. I guess since love is life or something lame like that and dragons bring life.” Tucker told him. “But that’s just some kid story.”

“I’ve never heard that story.”

“Yeah, but your dad hated dragons. He probably banned that sort of talk for you.”

“Right. I guess he did, didn’t he?” Washington sighed. 

“You know, I understand why you left.” Tucker said after an awkward silence passed. 

“You do?”

“Dude, I was his ward. He was a piece of shit. I mean at first I was confused because, you’re the prince. You can change whatever you want when you’re king but, what’s the point if you’re not happy?” He said. He pursed his lips together and looked thoughtful before saying, “Fahraav. That’s the Daro word for it.” 

Now Washington understood a bit more what Tucker had meant earlier. Hearing him say this sounded much truer than his other attempt “Fahraav.” He copied. Washington wanted to know for himself how this language of emotion worked, and when he did speak it the word sent the sensation through his body. He couldn’t help but smile.

“I told you dude,” Tucker grinned. “The language is emotion. If you’re feeling it, it gets stronger when you say it, and it spreads it, too. Fahraav.” The two smiled at each other as the word echoed off the marble walls. The sensation from the egg sitting in the corner was lost.

“Would those words help you heal?”

“Shit, they might. I haven’t used this language is so long uh, let’s the word is,” Tucker paused for a second, “Brewahl.” He hissed once he said it and grabbed his broken leg. “Okay that did something. It still hurts like fuck but,” He rubbed the skin a little bit as he spoke, “not quite as much as it did before. Maybe it’ll heal in three weeks instead of four if I keep saying it. Brewahl.”

“Brewahl.” Washington echoed for him. 

“I don’t feel anything anymore. Maybe it only works once for healing. At least it doesn’t hurt so much.” Tucker laid back on the bed. It was actually pretty comfortable for something that must have been pretty damn old. “Vraa ip ofini.” He hummed.

“What?” Washington questioned.

“Bring me food. It took you fucking hours to drag me here I’m hungry and those apples outside looked so good. Ojie.” 

“Alright, fine. I’ll bring you some food.” Wash told him before turning and leaving the room.

Once he was gone, that dark feeling from before sank into Tucker. He hated this room.

oOo

 

Tucker must have been on his fifth book in this boring room. Washington was sitting next to the bed, leaning against it as Tucker read to him the books that were in Daro. The two spent almost every minute of the day together, just talking. They had grown so comfortable being around each other. Tucker almost completely forgot the feeling the egg had given off when he first arrived. 

“Why are you even listening to this?” Tucker asked after a while. “You have no idea what I’m saying.” 

“It sounds nice.” Wash said. “And I’m learning some of it. I know how to tell you’re an idiot. Hi los faasrot.” He laughed a bit as he said it.

“I wish I never taught you that. Cahoodo.” They both laughed. None of their words came out sounding right. Their emotions weren’t in the insults and they knew it, but they still liked to say it. “And,” Tucker continued to talk, “You’ve learned what I mean when I ask for ofini.”

“Yeah, because you ask for something to eat every ten minutes.” Wash laughed. He got up from his spot on the ground and stretched a bit, then sat down next to Tucker.

“Hey man, don’t bitch at me because I still can’t walk for at least a week so I can’t get myself any food.”

“Once you can walk, you’re going to do so many of the chores to make up for me having to wait on you these past two weeks.”

“Fuck that! It’s your fault my leg is broken. Plus, I’m totally paying you back in Daro lessons. You can even read the shit on the wall that you’re so curious about now.”

“You already told me what those meant, though.” Wash pointed out. “Lahgorah.” He read from the wall. 

Tucker almost dropped his book. For a second, he felt the same way he did when his mom said it to him as a child. “Lahgorah.” He repeated softly. It made his body feel light. “Lahgorah.” He said once more. 

Neither of them fully realized what they were doing, but the word kept spilling from their lips until they were brought together for a kiss.

“I was wrong.” Tucker said when they parted.

“What?” 

“My translation. It was off, but I get it now.” Tucker grinned and kissed Wash again. “If you’re lonely, you’re afraid. If you’re in love, you bring life. That’s what it says.”

Wash was about to question him, but stopped when the sound of cracking echoed in the room. 

A dragon was being born.


End file.
